Looking for something more, this Christmas?
Carols by Candlelight Sun 21 Dec 2003 pm
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring.
Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting Santa’s reindeer, every single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen- had to be a girl.
We should’ve known. Only women, while pregnant, would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.
Contributed by: SermonCentral PRO
So there you have it! Some of the ‘popular’ Christmas story is not historical!
A COLA CHRISTMAS
In fact- you may have heard, to your horror, that maybe even Santa’s red and white colours aren’t the real thing! (ooooh!)
It’s all still a lot of fun, though
- and I know none of you here would mix up that stuff with the reality of Christmas
o but people do, you know! Seriously.
I honestly think some think it really is ‘for the kids’
• About presents, family, food etc
• (just those good things)
Truth is it is DREADFUL what Christmas does for some folk
- memories. Huge sense of emotion.
- Can’t stop themselves spending
- After Christmas- huge letdown
- Great poem: “Twas the month after Christmas, and all through the house Nothing would fit me, not even a blouse.” (not me, personally)
The truth is- THIS side of Christmas CAN’T satisfy. It’s not designed, to
- to make people into good consumers you’ve got to make them into people who get satisfaction by consuming/buying/getting
o but it has to be temporary… or they won’t come back to consume, more!
Typical of last minute Christmas shoppers, a mother was running furiously from store to store. Suddenly she became aware that the podgy little hand of her three year old son was no longer clutched in hers. In a panic she retraced her steps and found him standing with his little nose pressed flatly against a frosty window. He was gazing at a manger scene. Hearing his mother’s near hysterical call, he turned and shouted with innocent glee: "look mommy! it’s Jesus - baby Jesus in the hay". With obvious indifference to his joy and wonder, she impatiently jerked him away saying, "we don’t have time for that!"
SOURCE: From "THE WONDER OF CHRISTMAS" by Glenn Pease. http://www.intohisword.net/luke/luke17.shtml via www.sermoncentral.com
I’m not blaming all that on money and marketing. It’s the nature of worldly things. Good things
- they are fun… but they can’t satisfy. They’re not designed to
So, naturally, you’re left – ‘looking for something more’
- out of life and Christmas
Or… maybe because life has treated you rough… or you’ve never been brought up to ‘think beyond the material’..
- … you conclude there IS nothing more. And chuck in the cola fizzy Christmas… and all the other bits of it
Greg Lake (of ELP) did. (V2, 3 of ‘I believe in father Christmas’)
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a Silent Night
And they told me a fairy story
’Till I believed in the Israelite
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes
’Till I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him and through his disguise
I wish you a hopeful Christmas
I wish you a brave New Year
All anguish pain and sadness
Leave your heart and let your road be clear
They said there’ll be snow at Christmas
They said there’ll be peace on Earth
Hallelujah Noel be it Heaven or Hell
The Christmas we get we deserve
= Tragic, actually. Hopeless! But here’s the truth
- Cola Christmas may let you down
o But the REAL THING won’t!
- Greg Lake may think he has rejected ‘the Israelite’
o But hasn’t rejected the ‘real Israelite’
Just caricature of Him
- When people are introduced to the ‘real thing’ you find they love Him not leave Him
THE REAL THING
The real thing satisfies. If you can get to the core of the real Christmas story- in their you will find LIFE
- and it’s NOT the story about sentimental love… and all war being over between nations etc
o the real Christmas story culminates in EASTER
for a reason you must understand
o the real Christmas story is God taking flesh in a cold field, laid in a manger, into a war-torn area
fleeing for his life to Egypt because of Herod
But the REAL THING satisfies
By this- am I saying ‘God will never disappoint you… let you down’
- yes. I am. He can be trusted completely. All His promises are true. He is alive and real. People meet Him in Jesus.
But we have to strip off the tinsel of even some of the story that Christians tell us… to get to what is solid and reliable
- what IS promised, here? What does God… the Christian message promise us?
o IT’S NOT WHAT Bridget Jones thinks, in her diary
o At Christmas time, in her diary- she thinks of God, but it’s still with a Santa Claus mentality. He’s the ultimate ‘Mr Fix It’. She has a problem- GOD should fix it.
o Most of Bridget’s references to God throughout the diary tend to be cries of despair or outbursts of frustration.
Because He won’t fit in her pocket
So- she moves onto something more ‘mix and match’
And The ‘Real thing’ is not what is on Radiohead’s CD cover to ‘Kid A’ (Oct 2000)
’For Christmas I got you a pre-packed newborn slave to serve your every need’ so your feet can take a rest from the struggle of the behest responsibilities of power / the terrible terrible strain it must have on your every waking hour on your Playstation trigger finger’
God’s promises aren’t to give us immediately what we want (who could give us what we WANT, today, anyway!)
A middle-aged woman posted her Christmas wish list on the refrigerator for her husband to read. Rather than list certain items of desire, she simply requested "something that will make me look sexy and beautiful."
When Christmas rolled around she expected to open a package with some fancy lingerie inside. To her surprise, he gave her an exercise bike instead.
www.sermoncentral.com
So- what is the real thing? What really will satisfy and quench our thirst in life?
- if you can grasp a names for Jesus, tonight, you’ve begun to grasp the real thing
=You shall call Him ‘JESUS’ for he shall save His people from their sins
- That’s our greatest need.
- “no it’s not! I don’t feel a sinner… like the word… and I don’t feel guilty’
o I’m glad you don’t feel guilty. But that doesn’t mean you don’t need the real thing. Forgiveness
A small boy was writing a letter to God about the Christmas presents he badly wanted. "I’ve been good for six months now," he wrote. But after a moment’s reflection he crossed out "six months" and wrote "three". After a pause that was crossed out and he put "two weeks". There was another pause and that was crossed out too. He got up from the table and went over to the little crib scene that had the figures of Mary and Joseph. He picked up the figure of Mary and went back to his writing and started again: "Dear God, if ever you want to see your mother again…!"
Contributed by: Owen Bourgaize www.sermoncentral.com
The reason life’s a mess, we feel cut off from God is (the Bible says) because of sin
- what is ‘sin’? It’s not having God as #1 in your life… loving Him with all your heart soul and strength’
o it’s not just the big stuff. The Ian Huntley stuff.
That is abhorrent. Should be locked up never to return
But I’m not asking you to compare yourself with Ian Huntley. Rather- with God.
- God says ‘I AM perfection. I require sinless perfection. If you can’t make that grade then YOU need
o Forgiveness. My Son’
- Not ‘good luck’, ‘good deeds’ or ‘nice nature’’
"Merry Christmas to our Christian friends. Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends. And to our atheist friends, good luck."
SOURCE: Jeff Strite, Church of Christ at Logansport, Logansport, IN. From www.sermoncentral.com
And when you get that barrier removed- you find… in time… immediately (in fact) … that a relationship with the creator of the universe starts
- (that’s another name: Immanuel. He is God. Here on earth)
- and it’s the real thing… living water that satisfies. Even when you don’t get all you want. (and you don’t!)
A family celebrated Christmas every year with a birthday party for Jesus. An extra chair of honour at the table became the family’s reminder of Jesus’ presence. A cake with candles, along with the singing of "Happy Birthday" expressed the family’s joy in Jesus’ presence. One year on Christmas afternoon a visitor to the home asked the five-year-old girl, "Did you get everything you wanted for Christmas?" After a moment’s hesitation, she answered, "No, but then it’s not my birthday!"
Contributed by: Aaron Burgess www.sermoncentral.com
THIS Christmas story satisfies. It’s truth not tinsel. It changes lives- forever.
- I could give you hundred’s of examples
But, tonight, just two
- interview Ron & Jean?
TAKE THE CHALLENGE
Looking for something more?
- then I invite you to take the challenge
o take God at His word- that if you ‘seek you WILL find’
o that Jesus is the real thing that satisfies
Challenge to
- seek out… investigate… till you find
- get your life sorted out. Build on a rock instead of Bridget Jones’ Santa
- go on Alpha… ask questions… listen to the story/journey of others (rather than just accepting some of the trash and tinsel others have told you)
- be prepared to humble yourself. Admit your need. Accept Jesus.
Max Lucado in his book, The Applause of Heaven, puts it like this:
"A small cathedral outside Bethlehem marks the supposed birthplace of Jesus.
Behind a high altar in the church is a cave, a little cavern lit by silver lamps. You can enter the main edifice and admire the ancient church. You can also enter the quiet cave where a star embedded in the floor recognizes the birth of the King. There is one
stipulation, however. You have to stoop. The door is so low you can’t go in standing up.
The same is true of the Christ. You can see the world standing tall,
—but to experience the Saviour, you have to get on your knees.
So... {out there in Bethlehem, the night when Jesus was born} while the theologians were sleeping, and the elite were dreaming, and the successful were snoring, the meek shepherds were kneeling.
They were kneeling before the One only
the meek will see. They were kneeling in front of Jesus."
From www.sermoncentral.com
Carol 6: in the bleak mid-winter led by, and solo verse 1 Julia
Poem- by Martin Luther
HOLY CHILD
Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.
My heart for very joy doth leap,
My lips no more can silence keep,
I too must sing, with joyful tongue,
That sweetest ancient cradle song,
Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given
While angels sing with pious mirth.
A glad new year to all the earth.
Martin Luther.
Prayers
Carol 7: O little town of Bethlehem
Blessing + invite to Alpha
